Did Google Renouce Orkut's Little Brother Joga?

A long, long time ago in a place not so far away, Google (along with Nike) created a site called Joga.

Joga, unlike Orkut was a forum dedicated solely to the sport of football (or soccer as it is called in the US). Google even promoted it on Orkut, although many users found the Joga ad to be annoying and thus found ways to block it from view.

While the site had both the cash and resources to make it attractive to the outside world, it was unable to gather a large crowd and it looks as if the site has quietly shut down.

Upon visiting Joga.com a user will encounter this image...



...with the phrase "coming soon" as if the site will relaunch again in the foreseeable future.

Even though Joga never gained the fame of its older brother Orkut, it did provide a unique testing ground for Google as most of the features previously inside of Joga (video's, large albums, etc.) were implemented within Orkut later on after the site was relaunched with a brand new look.

Whether or not Google brings Joga back only time will tell. But if Google ever does finally decide to dust off this web domain, hopefully they will bring back some of the humorous videos that populated the site, like this one below.